3 Fascinating Facts About the Ancient Art of Acupuncture

Chances are you know that acupuncture clinics use a 3,000-year-old art originating in China to help patients relieve chronic pain, and expedite the healing process, but what you don’t know will astound you. Here are just a few amazing facts about acupuncture that will fascinate you.

It’s an Incredibly Popular Practice
Acupuncture is a lot more popular than you might think. There are more than 3,000 U.S. physicians who have integrated acupuncture into their clinical practice. What’s more, the most recent data from the National Health Interview Survey shows that there are more than 14 million Americans who have tried this amazing art at least once.

The Needles Were Not Always What They Were
The theory behind the traditional practice is that the human body has more than 2,000 points, which connect via 20 pathways, or meridians. Ancient practitioners used to put needles made out of stone, bamboo, and/or bone on these energy points to relieve pain and help with other medical problems, but now, modern practitioners use stainless steel needles, and leave them there for about 15 to 30 minutes.

There Are Multiple Styles
Believe it or not, there are scores of different styles and sub-styles of this traditional Chinese medicine. After all, it’s been thousands of years since people began practicing it. Given this vast amount of time, and the incredibly large, geographic area of China, it was only natural that it would evolve, especially considering the milieu of different cultural, political, and scientific influences. In the United States, the most common styles of practice include the Five Element Traditional style, Traditional Chinese Medicine Acupuncture, the Japanese style, and the Korean Constitutional style, which are all based on the traditional principles of Chinese medicine.

If you’d like to know more about this amazing, ancient form of medicine, please feel free to share any questions you might have in the comments.